Urban Cycling: Paris’s Quiet Revolution

PARIS, FRANCE (Bicycling.com): Don’t look now, but one of the biggest revolutions to have hit the streets of Paris in recent years is that of cycling. Since the French Revolution, Parisians pride themselves on the ability to get up and stand up for their rights. Street protests have been far ranging and include railway workers' pensions and rights for taxi drivers.

And since Paris mayor Bernard Delanoe introduced the first Velib’ rental bikes in 2006, Parisians have embraced the bicycle in numbers not seen since World War II. Today, no fewer than 20,000 Velib’ bikes, can be found a hundreds of stations on the city streets of Paris. As a result, cyclists can simply pick up a bike from one of the stations, go for a ride, and drop it back at any station they choose.

The introduction of the Velib’, or “freedom bike,” along with greatly expanded bike lanes, ignited a visible rise in bike commuters over the past five years.

In a recent study cited in the French daily Le Parisien at least 50 percent of those living in the French capital think that more could be done.

For some, the Velib’ program encouraged the purchase of their own bike. But others have found the Velib’ to be a better alternative. Currently it is estimated that one third of cyclists in Paris rely on the Velib’ while the remaining two thirds possess their own bikes.

“I’ve calculated that it is actually cheaper and more efficient to rent the Velib’s,” Carole Moreno-Chapelu told Bicycling. Ms. Moreno-Chapelu lives in the 14th arrondissement and commutes 45 minutes to the north side of the city most days. “The other advantage is that if you have a meeting or something else planned where you are not returning home, you don’t have to worry about what you are going to do about your bike.”

By some standards, the numbers remain modest. While the number of bike commuters has doubled in the past five years, still barely three percent of the population travels regularly by bike. Nevertheless, cycling is now clearly one very viable means of transportation, something that ironically was not a given in the land of the Tour de France.

“Before, cycling was seen as something for the poor. Now it is seen for its liberty and efficiency,” says Dalila Bissrry, secretary of the bicycle rights association Mieux Se Deplacer à Bicyclette (MDB).

In addition, while cycling was once considered old fashioned here in France, it has become fashionable thanks to the Velib’, as well as other trends such as the fixie culture that is slowly but surely taking hold around the city.

Like in other urban areas around the world, sundry hipsters are now sporting custom singlespeeds or dusting off old track and road frames and morphing them into city bikes. That said, few candidates for New York City bike-messenger jobs have been spotted here.

But this quiet revolution would not have possible if it weren’t for the expansion of bike lanes or bike-friendly lanes. Currently, the mayor’s office claims 645 kilometers of protected or semi-protected routes.

Some bike lanes are reserved uniquely for cyclists, while others share the lane with buses and taxis. New laws also stipulate that small streets with a 30-km/hr speed limit or less, allow for bike traffic in both directions.

As a result, Parisians, who often shied away from the risks of cycling amid the quagmire that is Paris traffic, now feel safe cycling in the city.

“Bike lanes are not enough,” says Ms. Bissrry. “What is really important is that we all—pedestrians, cyclists and drivers—learn to live together.”

Associations like M.D.B. continue to push for controlling or reducing speed limits and forcing local politicians to enforce new bike-friendly laws.

“We believe it is going in the right direction but politicians need to be more ambitious,” says Ms. Bissrry. “If they were, numbers of regular cyclists could be at 10 percent and not just three. But yes, we are going in the right direction.”

A Part of Hearst Digital Media
Bicycling participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.